Operational requirements of camera modules for use in mobile devices such as cell phones, tablets, and laptop computers are rapidly advancing in respect of sharper image resolutions and more sophisticated auto-focus capabilities. At the same time, dimensions of camera modules are also becoming smaller to meet consumer demand. Consequently, the operational performance of such camera modules is becoming extremely sensitive to the relative arrangement of the lens module and the image sensor—that is, a slight misalignment of the lens module with respect to the image sensor might result in a significant drop in the operational performance of these camera modules. Accordingly, conventional open-loop pick-and-place devices can no longer provide the required alignment accuracy between the lens module and image sensor to meet the desired operational performance of these camera modules.
In addition, the assembly of the camera modules does not take into consideration the respective optical characteristics of the lens module and the image sensor. Accordingly, the assembled camera modules may differ with regard to operational performance since the differences in optical characteristics among the various components of the camera modules are ignored.
Thus, it is an object of this invention to seek to address the above problems encountered during the assembly of these camera modules.